


Take the Power Back

by Demenior, DYlogger



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Coming of Age, Family Feels, Found Family, Friendship, Galra War is Everyone's War, Gen, Robots, Star Wars References, Voltron Gen Mini Bang 2018, War is hell, unlikely friends
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-25
Updated: 2018-07-25
Packaged: 2019-06-16 00:34:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,163
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15425106
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Demenior/pseuds/Demenior, https://archiveofourown.org/users/DYlogger/pseuds/DYlogger
Summary: Stranded in space with no friends, family or anything remotely familiar, Matt Holt finds himself at a loss for how to move forwards. He knows he needs to find Dad, and Shiro, and get them all home. Away from the war, the aliens and anything to do with the Galra.Through experiences with refugees, soldiers, other broken families, and a little lost droid named Beezer, Matt will decide where he thinks he best belongs in this strange new world he's found himself in.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the Voltron Gen Reverse Minibang 2018
> 
> (Now say that 5 times fast)
> 
> This has been one of the busier years of my life, and I forgot to hit our posting date of the 19th! Yikes!!
> 
> I had the pleasure of being paired with the wonderful Dylogger! Their art, as you'll find links to and see featured in the story (once I figure out html coding again, lol) is about Matt and Beezer, and an unlikely friendship!
> 
> In discussing what we both wanted from the story, we decided we wanted a kind of "coming of age" story where Matt goes from being completely tunnel-visioned on his personal goals, and starts to wake up to the world around him and the ways he can make a difference. With some fun and shenanigans, as well as Matt and Beezer having human-droid conversations. 
> 
> I think we've done very well for ourselves!
> 
> That all said and done, please go forth and enjoy the story!

* * *

 

Prison absolutely, irrevocably, without-a-doubt sucks. Matt already had a lot of opinions about prisons based on earth, and how the entire system was a scam and justice was flawed, but now that he’s experienced a space prison first-hand? It seems to be that the awfulness is universal.

There’s lineups everywhere. Smelly, stinky aliens all around and Matt would be fascinated, normally, but everyone is rude and mean and some of them like to bite and he’s not making that mistake again.

Matt accepts lunch scooped onto his tray like he’s living some cliche movie scene, and then limps off to find somewhere to sit. There’s always an empty end of a table to find. He keeps his head down and doesn’t talk to anyone.

He has to find Dad and Shiro. That’s all that matters. And once they’re together, then they’re going to get out of here and get back home.

First, he just… has to get out of here.

Matt glances around the room. Guards at every door. Prisoners crowding the tables. Everyone wearing the same ratty catsuits and crop tops that are all the rage in space prisons. It’s almost like the Garrison, with everyone in uniform to designate their rank at all times. Except it’s worse than the Garrison because Matt can’t pull rank on anyone, and all the guards are power-tripping.

Another day of trying to find some way out. Matt’s tried everything. It’s starting to get harder to come up with ideas, and shy of pulling a Shawshank Redemption, he’s not sure how many good ideas he has left. Not that carving a hold through the wall would be useful. Prisoners aren’t allowed any posters in their cells, so he wouldn’t be able to hide the escape hole anyways.

It’s going to be another terrible day, eavesdropping and listening for any hint of Shiro or his dad-- because Matt has to find them. It’s up to him to save them--

The wall explodes.

Well, that’s new.

* * *

  
“Welcome to the Coalition,” Commander Te-osh says.

She’s the one who grabbed Matt, when he was trying not to hack up a lung from all the smoke in the air from their bombs, and dragged him out of the prison and onto the getaway ship.

Several of the prisoners mumble amongst themselves. There’s a lot of them that made it. And a lot of them that were shot down by guards on the escape.

Matt regrets not eating his last prison lunch faster, because he’s feeling pretty hungry now.

“How many others did you rescue? Were there any humans?” he asks.

Te-osh studies him for a moment, then shakes her head, “You are the first— what did you say, human? The first human I’ve met. I do not know of any others in our ranks.”

“Shiro? My dad?” he tries again, “they’re still with the Galra! Turn around, we have to get them!”

Te-osh shakes her head, “I’m sorry, we can’t go back.”

* * *

  
More alien weirdness. Matt was finally used to the weirdness of the prison, and now he’s introduced to the weirdness of the Rebels. He’s put in a ‘Refugee Intake’ area. Where they give him blankets, some toiletries, and a cot to sleep on that he’s sharing with about

The rebels claim that Matt is a free person now, but this feels a lot like being in prison again. He’s required to go file a missing persons report on his dad and Shiro—tell the rebels all the reasons they would be useful to rescue. What are their qualities? What education do they have? Would they be privy to Empire secrets? Where are they being held.

Matt stares at the questions and has to force himself to think beyond ‘because they’re my family, that’s why’. It’s hard to fathom that that alone isn’t enough reason to go find them.

They claim he’s a free man, no longer a slave to the Empire, but then they assume that Matt is going to fight for them.

“You are smart,” Te-osh tells him, “communications will be good for you, but you must still go through cadet training first.”

“For what?” Matt snaps.

She misunderstands, assuming he’s being overconfident, “All soldiers must be able to fight. You will need to learn hand-to-hand combat before we send you into the field, even if you never see battle yourself.”

“I’m not signing up for your war,” Matt informs her, “I’m finding my family and we’re going home. We didn’t ask to be a part of this.”

He gets some health care, which is pretty nice for his knee. They say he can get a paid position too, once he’s done training. Matt bides his time. There’s always new news of ‘Commander Haxus’ or ‘the Degobah system’ and all these names and places Matt has never heard of and has no reason to care about. People talk to him like he should be invested in what’s happening to the Leerans or the Trurs, and sure he’s sad: it all sucks. But no one cares about his dad or shiro. No one understands that the crew of the Kerberos mission never asked to be involved in this. This isn’t their war, this isn’t their problem.

Te-os tells him she signed him up for the next wave of training. Encryption and code hacking classes will be extra, but she thinks he can handle it.

Matt steals what food he can from the canteen, and leaves the base in the middle of the night. He never signed up to be in an alien war.

* * *

  
The base isn’t too far from a city. The lights glow, even at night, and it makes it easy for Matt to follow the road in. He ducks out of sight of any vehicles cruising past-- everything hovers, nothing touches the ground and he’s gotta admit it’s still weird to see. Just another reminder of how far from home he is.

He misses Katie and mom. And Baebae sleeping on his feet when it got chilly. He misses the rattle of the Icarus II, when they’d been stuck inside of it for nearly six months and the stupid tin bucket had started to feel like home.

It’s cold out here. Matt’s glad he grabbed a cloak.

* * *

  
Matt finds a place that sells ships. It seems remarkably like a used car lot back on earth. The alien who runs the place is fat, a little bit greasy (literally, he leaves a trail) and likes to lean into Matt’s personal space.

“A ship you say? Where you headed?” he asks.

“I’m finding my family,” Matt says, “I need to get off this planet to do that.”

“How much are you willing to pay?” the alien asks.

Matt hesitates, “I-- I don’t have any money.”

“No money?” the alien laughs, “how do you expect to buy a plane?”

“I was wrongly imprisoned!” Matt insists, “the Galra took everything I had.”

“Tell someone who cares,” the salesalien shrugs, “the Galra take whatever they want, but you’re still alive, ain’tcha? Go get a job, do some work. Hell, if you join the Rebels they might let you fly one of their ships.”

“I’m not joining your war,” Matt snaps, and glances around. A lot of the ships need work, or have obvious wear and tear on them.

“Could you use some help fixing things up? I’m good with my hands,” he offers.

The alien regards him curiously, looking him over, “You? What do you know?”

Matt pushes past him to one of the ships. One of its panels is off, wires hanging out.

“The wires have been stripped, but I’m really good at soldering,” Matt says, “and it looks like you need a lot of internal work to get this running properly.”

“I have mechanics,” the alien says.

“I have small hands,” Matt offers, “and I’m smart. I’ll fix any ships you want if you let me take one when I’ve got it running again.”

“Just one ship?” the alien asks.

“I just need the ship,” Matt insists, “my dad and my best friend are out there, and I have to get them.”

“The Galra took them too?” the alien asks.

Matt nods angrily, “They attacked us with no warning. We didn’t do _anything_.”

“Aw, kid,” the alien sighs, “once the Galra have you, it’s over. People don’t come back.”

Matt thinks back to Shiro standing tall, brave with the weapon in his hand. How he’d walked into the Arena to die while Matt was taken away to deal with his injured leg.

Shiro’s still alive. Dad is still alive. They have to be.

“They’re alive,” Matt insists, “but I have to save them.”

The alien gives him a look, and Matt bristles when he realizes it’s _pity_.

“Let’s see what you can do, then I’ll decide what your time is worth,” the alien says.

It’s as close to a yes as Matt is gonna get. Why didn’t he think to try and steal some money from the Rebels? He could potentially go back and do that-- there’s plenty of work for everyone else to do. It wouldn’t hurt anyone.

“Okay,” Matt agrees, and shakes the aliens hand. It’s slimey.

* * *

  
The alien’s name is Skalka, and he takes pity on Matt and lets Matt sleep in the work shed on the lot. It smells like a car garage, which is a little more like earth than anything else Matt has experienced so far, but it also gives him a headache after he’s been inside too long.

Matt’s thankful for all of Katie’s obsession with tech and design now. While she always leaned more into coding, she’d force him to help her build whatever monstrosity she wanted to unleash onto the world. It means Matt is well-versed in handling electronics and figuring out how to take things apart to put them back together.

Space tech is also, once he gets a peek under the hood, so to speak, pretty easy to understand. There are leaps in theory and design that Matt would _love_ to know the history of-- how aliens went from figurative horses to diesel engines to interstellar space flight.

Matt doesn’t sleep well that night. He wakes at any weird noise, and the blanket that Skalka gave him isn’t enough to stop his shivering.

* * *

  
Skalka brings him a bowl of not-actually-porridge in the morning. Porridge is the closest consistency that Matt can think of, but it’s more savory-- maybe salty? Than he’s ever tasted porridge.

He scarfs it down while Skalka watches.

Matt talks between bites. Prison was _horrible_ for his manners, “So I need a ship for deep space--”

“First let’s see what you can do,” Skalka says.

Matt finishes his last bite of not-actually-porridge and sets the bowl aside, “Okay. Where to first?”

Skalka gestures for Matt to follow. There’s a speeder up on blocks-- paint faded, a few scratches, but overall in good shape.

“This was the next one I needed to send in. Just waiting for my guy to find some time to do it. If you can save me that wait time, I’ll be happy to let you work for a ship.”

“What does it need?” Matt asks. He’s already walking closer.

Skalka opens up the side panels to reveal the engine core. Matt squints following the flow of wires and tubes and all the circuitry involved.

“Won’t start,” Skalka says, “and all the parts are in working order. If you can find out what’s wrong with her, then you might be useful to me.”

Matt pushes back his sleeves, “Alright. I’m on it.”

* * *

  
No one has ever accused Matt of taking things too easy. When he gets a project he dives right in. And this is no different. It’s a stupid machinery problem-- but it’s also the difference between life and death. Between finding Shiro and Dad, or being stuck here forever.

Matt sucks in a ragged breath. No, he’s not going to get stuck here.

Skalka has an array of extra parts in work shed, and Matt drags out wire after wire after hose after wrench to replace each individual piece to see if that’s the cause for issue. He even hunts down the battery cell, makes sure it’s charged. Checks for gas-- alien ships don’t run on gas, so, thankfully, it’s not a case of ‘the tank is empty’.

He only shocks himself a handful of times, before he stops to go find a pair of work gloves. He manages to find an old pair that have dried out from Skalka’s slimey hands, so they just feel chalky inside.

Customers show up during the day, perusing the site and looking at ships. Matt doesn’t realize until he pulls so hard on a sprocket that when it comes free, he falls backwards and lands on his ass so hard he swears in about every language he knows.

When he looks up, Skalka and some other aliens are staring at him. Skalka doesn’t look too pleased. Matt smiles and gives them a guilty wave before he goes back to work. Oh boy, he’d better figure out what the heck is wrong with this thing before he scares any other customers.

* * *

  
The sun is setting, making it hard to see. Matt’s head is pounding, but so far nothing he’s tried has worked or seems to work. The damn speeder stays silent no matter how many times he tries to get it started. He’s replaced the battery, he’s changed out every single part with a different part to test it. He’s inspected the entire thing from top to bottom to find cracks or dents or any debris that might be preventing it from working.

He’s ready to scream. Or cry. Maybe a bit of both. There’s nothing wrong with this speeder-- nothing that Matt can find and he’s done _everything_ but he’s not smart enough and now he’s never going to find Dad and Shiro! They’re lost, in danger, and Matt can’t even fix a stupid speeder!

He steps back and kicks it in frustration.

“I hope you’re not planning on damaging my product,” Skalka says from behind him.

Matt spins around, “I’m sorry-- I’m just-- this stupid speeder. It’s _impossible_ to fix. I’ve checked everything!”

Skalka nods, “You’ve been at it for hours. I guess it might be something that I need my mechanic to do-- he’s got a droid that can scan it over. Much more effective than wasting your time all day on these things.”

“A droid-- droids can do that?” Matt asks, “why wouldn’t you just get one yourself then? I wouldn’t have wasted an entire day if a droid could just do it!”

“Droids are expensive, and… confusing,” Skalka shrugs, “I’m old fashioned.”

“Old fashioned? You sell space ships!” Matt points out.

“ _Used_ space ships!” Skalka clarifies, “solid models. They’re reliable. None of this fancy new shit they keep coming out with.”

“Would a droid be able to diagnose a programming error?” Matt asks, “because at this point I think it’s something to do with the programming.”

Skalka thinks for a moment, “Well… I suppose it could. Like I said, I don’t deal with droids.”

“I’m going to fix this ship,” Matt insists, “so where would I find a droid?”

Skalka scoffs, “You can’t afford a ship, and now you want to buy a droid too?”

“Is there a place to find them?” Matt asks, “a droid shop?”

“Where do they keep droids where you come from?” Skalka asks.

Matt feels like it might be unwise to say that droids don’t even exist back on earth. He is trying to pass himself off as a tech genius.

“I haven’t been to this planet,” he says, “just wanted to know if things were different here.”

“Well… if you hurry you might still catch the jawa’s,” Skalka says.

“Jawa’s?” Matt repeats.

“Do you have jawa’s?” Skalka asks.

Matt shakes his head.

“They’re traders,” Skalka explains, “mostly scavengers. Go into dangerous or remote areas, find whatever they can sell, and bring it back. If you’re firm you can get a good deal, but you can often get shit and absolute scrap from them. But you don’t always need money for it. So if you’re that desperate to get a droid, that’s where you should start.”

“Done,” Matt decides, and is about to take off running when he realizes, “but, um, could you point me in the right direction?”

* * *

  
Jawa’s are… creepy. And Matt knows a lot of creeps from his time in prison.

What a weird thing to say. He’s gonna have to get used to it. Maybe he should have gotten a shitty tattoo while he was there. Mom would blow a gasket.

Sunset lasts a lot longer on this planet than it does on earth, but even still, it’s getting pretty dark by the time Matt jogs up to the jawa ship. It’s huge and hulking, more of a rust bucket than anything Matt’s seen yet.

The jawas are little critters—about Katie’s height—who wear long brown robes that cover their feet, and deep hoods to hide their faces so only their bright yellow eyes show. They’re creepy… but kind of cute.

Matt spots a line of droids that have lined up for viewing. Some of the droids are being loaded back onto the ship for the night.  

“Wait, wait, wait!” Matt calls, running up, “I want a droid!”

He has to breathe for a moment by the time he makes it over. Man, even with all the physical tests he had to do and standards he had to meet before launch, all that time in the prisons did a number on him and reverted him back to his scrawny, out-of-shape nerdy self. Shiro would be so disappointed in him.

“I need a droid,” Matt says, “can I take a minute to look them over?”

The jawa’s chitter with one another before telling Matt he can have exactly one minute.

Matt turns to face the droids and realizes he has no idea what he even needs in a droid, let alone how to pick one out.

“Hey fellas,” he starts nervously, “who here is good at diagnosing problems in ships? I’m fixing a speeder and I need help.”

A few of the droids _boop_ curiously at him.

“Anyone?” Matt asks again, “I need to fix this speeder so I can find my family. Please!”

There’s a loud whistle from the end of the line. Matt steps over to see what looks like someone gave a printer legs and cat ears, and one big display screen for an eye like a cyclops.

“You good?” he asks.

The droid _beeps_. It clicks a few times, and the display image showing the eye flickers.

“You don’t look good to me,” Matt says.

The eye instantly flashes angry.

_Beep beep boop_.

“You’re… looking for someone too?” Matt asks.

_Beep_.

“You’d better be as good as you say you are,” Matt says, and kneels down, “now… how much are they selling you for? Cause I, uh, I don’t have any money.”

_Boop!_

“Of course I’m broke!” Matt snaps, “I just got out of prison! It’s not my fault the Galra are such dicks!”

The mention of ‘Galra’ seems to put the jawa’s on edge, and they all start scurrying around. The droids start getting loaded back into the ship.

“I’m not done!” Matt insists, “wait!”

The droid rocks forwards and hits Matt, getting his attention. A secret compartment opens up and the droid hands him real, actual money.

“You’ve been hiding this?” Matt asks, “seriously?”

_Beep boop_.

“Yeah, right, talk later,” Matt agrees, and flags down a jawa, “hey! Here, this one!”

He doesn’t give the jawa much chance to argue. The droid is already taking off from it’s spot in the lineup while Matt shoves the money in the jawa’s tiny hands.

He runs after the droid and really hopes that was enough money that they don’t come looking for him.

“By the way,” Matt realizes as they’re walking, “what should I call you?”

_Beep_.

“Beezer?” Matt repeats, “what kind of a dumb name is that?”

Beezer immediately rams into Matt’s ribs.

“Ow!” Matt snaps. It didn’t _really_ hurt. He’s reacting more out of shock.

“Don’t tell me you’re one of those droids with attitude,” Matt groans, “I just want a simple droid to do some work. Don’t cause problems.”

Beezer immediately informs Matt that the money he gave to Matt was actually counterfeit.


	2. Chapter 2

Skalka bursts into laughter when Matt shows up with a droid. He laughs even harder when Matt explains that the droid gave him the money to buy it. Matt leaves out the part about the money being fake. He’s not sure of Beezer was joking or not. Matt doesn’t even know if droids can make jokes.

“I’ve got to tune Beezer up tonight,” Matt explains, “but I think I can get your ship working tomorrow.”

“We’ll see,” Skalka says, and hands Matt a warm bowl of goo. Matt hadn’t realized how hungry he was, and he wolfs it down.

* * *

  
Beezer is covered in dents and scratches, not to mention a whole lot of sand. It’s been a long time since this droid saw any TLC.

“Wow your old masters must have hated you,” Matt says.

Beezer’s eyepiece goes red and the droid kicks off with one foot to try and topple itself onto Matt to crush him.

“Hey! Hey! What gives?” Matt demands. He shoves Beezer back and angrily yanks the eyepiece off so he can polish it.

_Beep beep boop beep!_

“You were separated from them?” Matt feels guilty, “yeah, me too. And Skalka said I could get a ship from him to go find my crew, but I have to earn it.”

_Beep beep?_

Matt pauses.

“I guess you could come with me,” Matt says, “I bought you, didn’t I?”

_BEEP_

“If that fake money gets me into more trouble I’m going to short-circuit you,” Matt mutters.

_Beep_

“I hope you’re as good as you say you are,” Matt agrees, “but that does mean we need to get out of here before the jawas figure out it’s fake. So we have to work hard. You ready?”

Beezer’s eye, in his hands, turns into an upwards curve. It’s a happy eye, a smiling eye. For the first time in a long time, Matt finds himself smiling back.

* * *

  
Matt wakes up with his back against Beezer. The droid runs warm, and it kept Matt from shivering all night.

Beezer lets out a trill of sounds as he starts up. He dances around and runs a few programs as he checks to make sure Matt didn’t mess anything up while cleaning him last night.

Matt stretches his arms over his head and shakes out his legs.

Skalka knocks not too long after, bringing a bowl of not-actually-porridge.

“The droid looks good,” he notes, eyeing Beezer warily.

“He’s kind of a jerk,” Matt says with his mouth full, “but smart.”

Skalka looks surprised, “You… you can speak droid?”

Matt frowns, “You can’t?” Is droid even another language? It’s just binary code—it’s simple to learn.”

Skalka shakes his head, “You kids these days. It’s… it’s too much for an old man like me.”

“Maybe you should learn,” Matt says, “it’d probably be good for you to have a droid around here. Just to help out. It could keep the ships polished, or clean, or do anything you needed, really.”

In fact, most of what he’s seen of Skalka’s place has been on the side of dirty. It seems like the guy just doesn’t have the time to stay on top of everything. Besides, he’s like… old. Not ancient old, but definitely older than Matt old. He should have someone helping him out.

Skalka nods, “Yes, help is hard to come by. I’d always hoped that my son…” he trails off, and then shakes his head, “nevermind. You’ll get the ship done today?”

“I hope so,” Matt agrees, and then clears his throat, “I mean, yes sir. It’ll be done. Then point us to the next task.”

“One at a time,” Skalka says, “show me a finished project first.”

* * *

  
The speeder starts on the third try. Matt's so startled when the engines rumble to life that he leaps off the bow and right onto Beezer, who's still connected to the mainframe. Beezer makes all sorts of alarmed bell and whistle noises, red eyepiece flashing bright yellow 'alarm alarm' colors.

Skalka comes running out of his office to see what's wrong.

Matt slides off of Beezer, getting his feet on the ground and standing upright. He coughs once to clear his voice, and then gestures to the humming speeder.

"Ta-da!" he says.

Skalka takes in the active ship, and slowly circles it as if he's making sure he's not being pranked.

"You did it," he says, amazed.

"I did," Matt beams.

 _Beep_ says Beezer.

"Okay Beezer helped. A little," Matt admits.

_Beep!_

"But it's fixed, just like I said I could. How many of these do you need done before I can get a ship?" Matt asks, "just tell me what you need."

"Don't you want to celebrate this?" Skalka asks.

Matt shakes his head, "No. Dad and Shiro are still out there. I have to save them."

"Son," Skalka says with a weary sigh, "you said it yourself, the Galra have them-"

"And they're gonna be fine," Matt insists, "once I save them we can all go home and forget this ever happened."

"Home?" Skalka asks, "your home is outside of the Empire?"

"Yeah," Matt says, and he's nervous about how much he should share. He doesn't want any more aliens coming to earth than have already: which means, none at all.

"Home is peaceful. None of your war and huge prisons and death fights," Matt says.

"Those aren't mine," Sklaka insists, "it's the Galra."

"Whatever," Matt shrugs, "all of this alien stuff. We don't have that at home. It's safe, and the rest of my family is there. I'm getting Dad and Shiro and we're all going home."

Skalka's face doesn't give away any emotions, but he doesn't try to argue any more, "Well... okay. Here, this is the next one I need fixed up so I can sell her, and then there's three in the back that need a lot of work."

Matt and Beezer follow along behind him.

* * *

  
It's nice working with Beezer. Sometimes it's almost like working with Katie-- but with less jokes. Beezer's fun, when he's in a good mood, but he's so sensitive for a droid that his attitude will change at the drop of a hat. Whoever designed him really wanted an emotional droid.

Matt likes to talk while he’s working, so he tells Beezer all about Dad and Shiro, and how horrible the prisons were. He also mentions that the rebels saved him, but then they wouldn’t go back for Dad and Shiro. And they were going to make Matt join them! To fight in their war!

 _Boop boop_ Beezer says.

Matt nods in agreement, “Yes! Exactly! They were gonna get me killed! And then Dad and Shiro would still be out there, with no one coming to save them.”

They work for a few minutes before Matt remembers that Beezer is looking for his masters—his family—too.

“What, uh,” Matt glances over to the droid, “how did you get separated?”

_Beep_

“Kidnapped? They were?” Matt says, “wow we have more in common—”

_Boop_

“ _You_ were kidnapped, oh,” Matt realizes, “I’m sorry to hear that. Was it the Jawa’s?”

It wasn’t. Beezer describes how his family keeps to themselves, minding their own business in the midst of a war that isn’t their own. Their ship was their home, and they were constantly on the move. It was fun—they saw so many things, met so many people, and through it all, the three of them were together. And then they’d stopped on a planet, and while Beezer was running errands, he’d been captured. He wasn’t started up again until the Jawa’s caught him, so he didn’t know where his family was. But they were looking for him, he was sure of it.

* * *

  
Later into the afternoon, Skalka comes to find them. They’ve almost got the new ship running as smooth as if it were new—or as close to new that they can get an old model like this—and Matt’s determined to work late into the night to get it done. Now that he has Beezer, things are moving much faster, and the two of them are in a hurry to get a ship and leave this stupid planet behind.

“Matt,” Skalka says, almost nervously, “can you do something for me?”

Matt hops to his feet, “Of course! What’s up?”

Skalka hands him some money, “I need you to purchase some guan-yan’s for tonight.”

“Guan… what is that?” Matt asks. Beezer wheels over, making a few whistling chirps.

“Oh, Beezer—a fruit? Sweet? Uh, yeah, okay,” Matt looks back to Skalka, “um, I’ll take Beezer. He’ll know what it is.”

Skalka nods, “Be quick. I’ll try to have dinner ready for when you get back.”

* * *

  
“Why the heck does he need some fancy fruit?” Matt wonders. He looks at the money in his hand for another moment before he tucks it into his pockets. Matt doesn’t even know what the currency is called out here—or what any values of anything is. He could be holding board game money and he wouldn’t know it.

_Beep boop_

“Skalka? He’s not _sad_ ,” Matt scoffs, “he’s just… you know, old.”

_Beep_

“His son?” Matt shrugs, “I don’t know. I think he mentioned his son once, but he didn’t say anything about him. Oh—do you think he’s dead?”

_Boop boop_

“Of course Skalka’s lonely. He lives alone,” Matt says, “his personal life is not my problem.”

Beezer leads the way when Matt realizes he has absolutely no idea where he’s going. The droid is confident in his directions, until they pass the same place for the third time.

“Do you have any idea where we’re going?” Matt demands.

_Beep_

“Then why would you say you know the way?” Matt groans.

He spots a kid hovering on the edge of the crowd. They’re a little dirty, and their clothes are tattered, but they’re the only person that looks approachable right now.

“Hey, kid,” Matt calls, and jogs over, “do you know where I can get some guan-yan?”

The kid flinches when Matt approaches, but then recovers. Their eyes are big and bright, though their cheeks look sunken.

“Guan-yan? Yeah, uh, just-- the shop down there,” the kid points with a thin arm, “you can get it there.”

“Thanks,” Matt says, and heads off.

“H-hey, sir,” the kid calls, “um, um if you’re-- if you’re getting food-- could you… would you have some to spare? Or change?”

Matt hesitates. All he hes is what Skalka gave him. It’s not even his money. Matt doesn’t even know how much money he’s holding.

Matt shakes his head, “I’m... I’m sorry. I can’t. Where are your parents?”

The kid glances at their feet, trying to hide the tears in their eyes, “The-- the Galra took them.”

“That sucks,” Matt says, and wishes that he sounded more sincere, “good luck.”

The kid nods, and steps back against the building. They go back to watching the crowd with their big eyes.

Matt keeps his head down as he walks away. He feels guilty, though he doesn’t understand why.

Beezer falls in line at his side.

_Beep boop_

“Maybe their parents deserved it,” Matt says, though he doesn’t believe it.

_Boop!_

“Yeah, sorry, they probably didn’t. That’s just… god that’s shitty,” Matt sighs, “but there’s nothing I can do.”

_Beep_

“I thought we agreed that fighting the Galra was stupid,” Matt says, “it’s not our fight!”

_Beep beep_

“We can keep an eye out for their parents,” Matt agrees. That makes him feel a little better.

* * *

  
Thankfully Beezer is there when Matt realizes this is a store you’re supposed to haggle in. Beezer takes over, lights an actual _flame_ on the tip of one of his little mechanical arms that he sticks out of his body and into the shop owner’s angry face, and Matt wonders if they’re about to get killed, but then the shop owner bursts out laughing and hands over some change and bags the fruit.

Matt’s still not entirely sure what happened, but Beezer is boasting about it on the walk back, and it’s making Matt laugh.

That is, until they turn the corner, and run into the Jawa’s that Beezer-- and also Matt, kind of-- conned with fake money. Matt had hoped to leave town before running into these guys again.

“Hey guys,” Matt greets. Maybe they don’t know about the money yet. If he and Beezer play it cool they can get out of this without any trouble.

One of them immediately pulls a knife from it’s belt.

_Beep!_

“Obviously they know you scammed them!” Matt shouts, “now run!”

For a brief moment, as Matt starts running, he wonders if Beezer can move faster than a walk. And then the droid goes flying past him using rocket thrusters.

“Hey!” Matt shouts, but Beezer is already long gone.

A shout comes up from the Jawa’s behind him, and Matt doesn’t bother looking back. He breaks into a dead sprint. Where is he going? He wishes he knew! He just runs as fast as he can.

Unfortunately, his leg isn’t completely healed. His knee twinges right away, and Matt knows he can’t keep up the pace forever. What is he going to do? Fight? He’s not a fighter! Matt’s never been in a fight in his life! He even faked being sick to get out of the wrestling module in school.

Matt skids around a corner and his knee gives out. He sprawls facefirst into the dirt, and the bag of guan-yan goes flying. Matt throws out a hand, as if he has any chance of catching them, and watches the two fruits go flying, bounce on the ground, and roll to a stop a few feet away.

“Shit, shit, shit,” Matt mutters.

He gets his hands under him and scrambles to get up. His bad leg feels stiff and heavy, it’s hard to move it. Adrenaline keeps him going more than anything.

Matt half-crawls, half-runs to the guan-yan and scoops the fruit up in his arms. There’s angry squealing behind him. The Jawa’s are here!

Matt looks around desperately for somewhere to hide, but there’s nowhere he can go. Especially not on his bad leg.

Dad and Shiro need him. Matt can’t get stopped here. He didn’t survive Galra prison for this!

He tucks both fruits under one arm and makes a fist with the other.

“You want some of this? You weird little hobbits! I’ll kick all your asses!” he shouts.

The best defence is a good offence, after all.

The Jawa’s don’t appear to believe him. Around the corner comes another little group, rounding it up to about six or seven little hooded, squeaking aliens in total. Matt’s so screwed.

 _BEEP_!

Beezer comes screaming out of the sky, and points his rocket feet at the Jawa to make them all dive away from the flames.

“Yeah buddy!” Matt shouts excitedly.

Beezer’s body console opens and two long arms snake out, reaching for Matt. Matt leaps onto him, one arm securing Matt while the other puts the two guan-yan’s into Beezer’s body for safekeeping. Matt clings tight, laughing excitedly, as Beezer fires his rockets and they launch into the sky.

* * *

  
Skalka invites Matt and Beezer to join him inside his house for dinner. The office for the lot is the front room of the house. And while the office isn’t the cleanest place, it’s mostly organized. The house is in worse disarray. Matt doesn’t want to comment on it.

Skalka’s made them a big dinner. Matt’s mouth waters at the sight of it.

“What’s all this for?” he asks as he takes a seat. There’s four chairs around the table. Why a single guy would need this much extra furniture is beyond Matt. He thinks he spied at least two bedrooms on the way in.

“I thought we could celebrate your accomplishments,” Skalka said.

Matt feels a little bloom of pride. Things are finally going well for him!

“Yeah, we’ll have to figure out a good equivalence for me to get my own ship,” Matt says. He picks up one of the platters and scoops some food onto his plate before reaching for the next.

“You still… are you sure that’s the right choice?” Skalka asks.

Matt nods, “What else would I do?”

“Well…” Skalka sets down his cutlery, “well… maybe you stay here. You’re handy, I can see that. And smart-- you got a droid, the two of you can fix up newer models that I can sell for more. We can make some good money together. It’s a good life.”

Matt feels a little sick, “I-- no. I can’t. I told you, I have to find my family, and then we’re going home.”

Skalka sighs, “Kid… I don’t know if that’s possible. People don’t escape the Galra unless there’s some kind of miracle.”

Matt’s sick and tired of hearing about all the ways everyone expects him to fail. Why is it so wrong that he just wants to save his family and ditch this stupid alien war he never signed up for?

“I’m not gonna waste my life growing old just sitting around selling old ships!” Matt yells.

Beezer’s eyepiece flashes ‘danger’ as Skalka stares him down.

“You think I want to do this?” Skalka asks, “sell ships I can barely keep maintained? Never have a day off? Work tirelessly every day to get people to choose my product?”

Matt looks down at his plate and shrugs, “Well… it’s clearly making you miserable. Why else would you do it?”

“Because,” and Skalka’s voice cracks, “because I’m hoping for a miracle.”

Matt looks at the extra chairs at a table. A lonely man wouldn’t need this, but a family man would.

“Your son…” Matt recalls, “he’s-- the Galra?”

Skalka coughs to clear his throat and compose himself, “He-- he joined the rebels. Thought he could make a difference. And then he got captured. That’s all I know.”

“I’m sorry,” Matt says, and he thinks back to the beggar child on the streets today. So many people have lost people to the Galra. It’s so unfair!

“You could try to find him,” Matt offers.

Skalka laughs, “What could an old man like me do? I can’t fight, I’m not smart. I can barely fly. All I have is keeping this business going so my son has somewhere to come home to.”

 _If he ever comes home_ is left unsaid.

“I have to find my family,” Matt insists. It sounds… so hollow, now. Everyone’s trying to find their family. Every family has been fractured and torn apart by the Galra. Matt thought he was different, that something about his circumstances made him special. He’s realizing how wrong that was.

 _Beep beep_ Beezer offers.

“I thought you said joining the Rebels was a stupid idea,” Matt replies.

_Boop_

“Yeah,” Matt agrees, “out of all of us… they are changing things. Rescuing people.”

“I wish them the best,” Skalka agrees, “they’re the only thing keeping the Empire from taking over the entire universe. If your home planet isn’t yet involved in this war, then it will be eventually.”

Matt thinks of Mom and Katie. He can’t imagine losing them too.

“I guess this might be my war after all,” Matt realizes. It’s… he meant to sound strong, and like a hero. Instead he sounds like a scared kid.

“Aww, kid,” Skalka sighs, and nudges a bowl of goo closer to him, “eat a little, lift your spirits.”

Matt nods, and as he reaches out for the food his breath hitches and his eyes get wet with tears.

“I never wanted this,” Matt chokes out, “I didn’t want this but now I have to fight and Dad and Shiro and that kids parents and your son and _everyone_ is out there and hurting-- and I’ve been so stupid thinking it wasn’t my problem! Dad would be so ashamed of me!”

_Beep_

“I don’t know what the droid said,” Skalka says, “but I bet your pop would be pretty proud of you. You’re smart, resourceful and you’re a good man, Matt.”

Matt sniffles, and spoons some goo onto his plate.

“Thank you,” he says.

“Now I… I got my son’s room,” Skalka says, “I can pack his stuff up, for now. Until he comes home. Let you move in. You can’t be sleeping out in the shed if you’re working here.”

Matt wipes his face with the back of his hand, and shakes his head, “Thank you, but I’m not staying.”

“You still want the ship?” Skalka asks.

Matt shakes his head again, “No. That was a stupid idea, to just go out on my own. I’m still gonna find Dad, and Shiro, and everyone else. I wanna rescue them all, and end the war.”

“That’s not a one-man job,” Skalka says.

“Yeah,” Matt laughs, “it’s a team. I almost had it right, before I came here. If I want to help the people I love, if I want to save my home before the Galra get to it, then I have to join the Rebels. And with them, I’m going to take down the Empire.”

Skalka looks resigned, but he puts on a brave face. He reaches for his glass and holds it high, “A toast, then. To the bravest apprentice I never hired!”

Matt laughs, “To the kindest old man who took me in.”

“Aww shucks kid,” Skalka mutters, and he drinks to try and cover the fact that he’s blushing.

 

* * *

  
Matt sleeps on the couch in Skalka’s house that night. He’d been offered the option to use the bedroom, but it just didn’t feel right. It’s a lot warmer inside. Matt’s very grateful. Beezer stays nearby.

“Hey, Beezer,” Matt whispers in the dark. Beezer’s eyepiece lights up.

_Beep?_

“I’m going to the rebels tomorrow. To join. Are you coming?” Matt asks.

Beezer processes his decision.

“I won’t be leaving with you,” Matt explains, “so… you don’t have to stick around, I guess.”

_Beep._

“I know, I know we said it was stupid to join the Rebels. But _we_ were being stupid. Or, at least, I was,” Matt says, “even if it’s not my war-- if I can do something to end it, then people can stop suffering. Besides, it’s the right thing to do.”

_Boop beep._

“You don’t think your family would have joined the Rebels too?”

_Boop._

“Well, you never know, maybe they did!”

_Beep beep._

“Of course I’ll help you get on a ship! We’re friends, aren’t we?”

_Boop._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks so much for reading!
> 
> If you're a fan of my works you'll know that this story was a little outside my normal rande (as in: it's not about Shiro, lmao) but it was soo much fun to get into Matt's head, and to enjoy this small adventure that sets him on the path of becoming deeply involved with the Rebels (and eventually reunites him with his family!!!)
> 
> Ciao!


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